A live Asian carp has been discovered in a Chicago waterway about 9 miles from Lake Michigan - well beyond electric barriers created to prevent the invasive fish from reaching the Great Lakes, officials said Friday. A bighead carp was found in Chicago's Lake Calumet in 2010.
Environmental groups and the region's fishing and boating industries, which generate $23 billion annually on the lakes, are most anxious about two varieties of Asian carp: bighead and silver, which weigh dozens of pounds and gorge on the same tiny plant and animal life that feeds the lakes' other fish.
Even if the carp get through, scientists say, it could take years to establish breeding populations, and it's doubtful they would spread completely across the Great Lakes, although they could overrun shore areas and tributary rivers where popular species like perch and trout breed and people enjoy water sports.
The barrier is created to stop the carp, which has infested the Mississippi River, from reaching the Great Lakes through the river and canal system.
The National Wildlife Federation, in collaboration with Prairie Rivers Network and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, recently launched an online video series highlighting the jobs and recreational tourism industry at risk if Asian carp invade the Great Lakes.
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That's according to the Illinois DNR and the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.
Bipartisan legislation cosponsored by 31 representatives and 7 senators this week would compel the Trump Administration to release a study with guidance on how to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.
Officials cautioned the discovery doesn't mean Asian carp have become established in the rivers and canals between the barriers and the Great Lakes, or in the lakes themselves.
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The Illinois DNR and the ACRCC are committed to learning more about the captured silver carp and continuing their sampling efforts in the Illinois Waterway.
"They are voracious eaters, able to consume 5 to 20 per cent of their body weight each day, leaving far less of the microscopic plant and animal life (phytoplankton and zooplankton) to support native fishes", the agency says. Silver carp are notorious for hurtling out of the water when startled.
Since then, USA federal agencies have spent more than $300 million on stopgap measures, including placing electric barriers on one likely route, a shipping canal that leads to Lake Michigan.
Members of Congress from some states in the Great Lakes region contend the electric barriers aren't enough.
"The Trump Administration can not delay for one minute more the release of a taxpayer funded study detailing how to deter the carp invasion".
Lawmakers from Great Lakes states introduced bills this week that would order its release. "We need to know how the silver carp came so close to Lake Michigan and whether there are any additional carp in the area".
"The threat Asian Carp pose to the Great Lakes both ecologically and economically is clear", Huizenga said.
The fight over what to do to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan has been waged for a decade, with officials in Michigan arguing that hydraulic separation may be needed to protect the Great Lakes.
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